Watch-dial



(No Model.)

G. HUNTER.

WATCH DIAL.

No. 340,508. Patented Apr. 20, 1886.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Or rmE,

GEORGE HUNTER, OF ELGIN, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELGIN NATIONAL \VATGH COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

WATCH-DIAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,508, dated April 20, 1886:

Application filed December 11, 1883. Serial No. 114,195. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE HUNTER, of Elgin, in the county of Kane, and in the State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in \Vatch-Dials; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, making a part of this specification. in which is shown my improved dial separate from a watch.

In the use of dials upon which the twentyl'our hours are employed it is difficult to separate the hours so that one may readily dis- -5 tinguish the day hours from the nighthours.

To remove such difficulty is the design of my invention, which consists in the watchdial provided with a series of twenty-four hour-numbers, which are arranged in a circle on a background of uniform color, of which numbers those designating the day hours are made lighter in color than the others, so as to be contrasted therewith, as hereinafter specii'ied.

In the annexed drawing, A represents a dial, which, near its outer edge, is provided with a divided circle, a, for seconds and fractions of seconds, and within the line of the same has a second circle, a, that is divided 0 into sixty spaces for minutes. \Vithin the minutes circle a is a third circle, a, which is formed by twenty-four consecutive hour-numbers that are arranged with the number 12 at the upper center and the number 24 at the lower center. In order that the day hours may be readily distinguished from the night hours, the numbers representing the same are formed of different colors, the day-hour numhere being preferably red and the night-hour numbers black. As thus arranged, the color of a number assists the eye, and there is thus conveyed to the senses an insensible appreciation of the portion of the day to which any number belongs, that materially assistsin rendering a person familiar with the new time- 5 system. I

The dial, as described, and as shown in the drawing,with the twelve-hour mark at the top and the twenty four-hour mark at the bottom, is adapted for use with the system of time notation in which the day is regarded as beginning at midnight.

When the dial is to be used to measure time according to the system in which the day is regarded as beginning at noon or sundown, the numbers indicating the day hours under such system can, in accordance with my invention, be made lighter, and so contrasted with the other hour-numbers.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, what I claim as new 1s-- The watch-dial provided with a series of twenty-fourhour-numbers, which are arranged in a circle on a background of uniform color, with the number 12 at the top and the number 24 at the bottom of the dial, and of which the numbers designating the day hours are made lighter than the others, substantially as and for the purpose specified,

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 5th day of December, 1883.

GEORGE HUNTER.

Vitnesses:

WVILLIAM FrroH, HENRY 0. HAZARD. 

